Nut-screening apparatus



July 14, 1925.

L. L. MILLER NUT SCREENING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 1923 IN V EN TOR.L.L.Mb'lle1 QM..% LBA,SI- ATTORNEY l l c u a c u l i c s a u o aPatented July 14, 1925.

PATENT OFFICE;

LAURENCE I. MILLER, OF RIION, CALIFORNIA.

.- NUT-SCREENING APPARATUS.

Application filed October 9, 1923. Serial No. 667,440.

b To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, LAURENCE L. MILLER, acitizen of the United States, residing at Ripon, county of San Joaquin,State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Nut-Screening Apparatus; and I do declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereonwhich form a part of this application.

This invention relates to improvements in devices for separating almondsfrom their hulls and other accompanying foreign matter after they havebeen passed through the hulling machine.

The principal object of my invention to provide a screening apparatuswhich will automatically cause the separation of the hulls, etc, fromthe almonds, without any bruising of the latter, and from which the nutswill be discharged in a very clean condition, so that subsequenthand-picking is reduced to a minimum.

I have also provided means for causing undersized nuts and any meats, aswell as unthreshed nuts, to be automatically segregated from the normalsize hulled nuts, so that the subsequent sorting will be unneces sary.

As another object of the inventionI have provided adjustment means forthe screens so that nuts of diflerent sizes and thicknesses, dependingon the brand of nut grown and handled, may be treated with equalfacility in the one apparatus, although of course at different times.

A further object of the invention is to produce a simple and inexpensivedevice and yet one which will be exceedingly effective for the purposesfor which it is designed.

These objects I accomplish by means of such structure and relativearrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the followingspecification and claims.

In the drawings similar characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in the several views:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of the apparatus.

Fig. 2 is a cross section thereof.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary plan of anupper screen structure.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary section o-fthe same. I

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary section of the lower screen structure.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on thedrawings, the numerals 1 .and- 2 denote vertically spaced pairs ofhorizontal frame structures, rigidly connected together by' verticalmembers 3, which are supported from abase i by means of substantiallyvertical and horizontally flexible spring members'o such as are commonly used in shaker-table construction. I The frames are reciprocatedhorizontally by means of horizontalrods or arms 6 connected to aneccentric drive of short throw. This latter feature is not shown, 'sincethe use of such is well known, and of itself forms no part of myinvention. .This drive arrangement imparts a jerky up-and-down movementto the frames, besides a longitudinal movement, causing the nuts, etc,to gradually travel from one end to the other of the screens now to'bedescribed.

Fixed on and under the frames '1 and covering the space therebetween forthe greater portion of the area thereof is a metal sheet 7 havingthroughout its area plurality of somewhat closely spaced holes 8. Theseholes are neither round nor truly oval, but are shaped to be as near aspossible symmetrical with the shape of an almond, the major axes beingtransversely of thesheet.

Directly under the screen-sheet 7 and in contact therewith is anothersimilar sheet 9 having holes 10 the same size as the holes 8 and alinedtherewith transversely of the screen, but arranged to be somewhatoverlapped by the latter so as to alter the size of the openingsthroughthe screens while maintaining them symmetrical with the generalshape of almonds at all times, as willbe evident. This screen structurecan therefore be used to handle nuts of. any size.

The screen-sheet 9 is slidably mounted for movement longitudinallyof thescreen 7, so

as to enable the size of theopenings therethrough to be altered for thepurpose above stated." A screw 12 is fixed on one end of the sheet 9 toenable itto be readily moved by the operator.

The screen 9 is held in contact with the screen 7 by any suitable means,such as bolts 13 passing through the frames 1 and through longitudinalslots 14 in the sheet 9, springs 1 5 Being "about said, liolts' betweenthe fialrhes 1 and the bolt-heads thereabo x' e. To prevent sagging ofthe :SCIFLBI'ISI: between the frames cross-suppo'rt's I extendthereunder at suitable intervals.

As previously stated, the 9 do not extend fro m end to end of the alolerelatii e to theframes,1. In this manner th eaotual spacing betweenacent ones of theirods lti and 1 cah be altered at will, spacing. being,so newhat;less than they width of, thefipenings, through the shr'eeiis,whateiqeif that, may be, for the purpose hieihafterset foi'thL A chute 19 s ariange d at the ehd oif the that end, while another cli ite 20extends dimer Sa rods it the full ienggn e the eas- (ifithe fi aihes 1fitted the fewith;

Mo inted on the frames 2 from, end to end thereof; are transjsfierselyextending rods 21. For a certainIdista-nce,flQm 12h? intake. qr startingend of said frames, which is;that end l nden the scifeenflshhetshthe"rods 21 are ey'en ip somewhat closely spac d, while fidiii there ontothe other or, dischargeend of the frames the rods are still eveiily spaeed biit are farther a H -Si lil y peed dld peedmbp f ing rods22 a fepositioned:internfediahe. the r otl f, and inafplane slightly below thesame, beinj'gj mounted on a Vertically adjust ahlefraine'strueture23nnder the fianie 2. n a The frame 23-, which is Sp 115101;, dividedat} the .jiinction [of the". narrow with the widely spaced bafrsma headj Listed in any aiebe man a e Do e ;i di diie ly V me ns for instanceofihqlts-Qi secur'edin theframes '23s and projecting throngh tlie frams; 2', with springs 25 about the bolts between the fiames 2 and thebolt-heads thereabove, V A s 7v This construction tiends, to v cause thefiames 23Tto move upwardly. To c'ou'nterlaictfand stillperinit of thismovement when desired ;set' screws 26 are, threaded throngh eitherframe, bearing against the adjacent face of the other frafmen the framesmay be moved apart, or allowed to :c onjie to} ,gether, enabling thedirect s 'i-acing be, tween the uppenand' lower rpds b ing' altered atwil i dies ii -eke q i s a i i A This same means of adjustment may rodstructure to carry off whatei er reaches of course be used in connectionwith the up- 'p'eiij adjustable frame 18.

A chute oi draper' 27 exteiids under the frames and 23 for thefulllength thereof, while a" smalrttafisverse chute 28 is placed und rthe f rames 23 where the close spacing e r-ale bars 21 and 22 ends.

H ,Ano-ther ehute or draper 29 is placed at the dischargii 'eiids'of theframes 23 to receive the clean nuts. v r a v,

l n operation', the hiilled nuts, hulls,,fdbris f iid a rneats, aredumped onto the intake end of the scieeri shet 7.

Dujtothe gitatiiig or shaliing ofithe structure,v as previouslydescribed, the a mass will sihortly spreadout oi er the sheet; and willinoye toward the opposite end of the ew i s a. a

I The whole nuts of average size, as wellas any neats, half hullsand'small scraps gens erally, will pass through the openings 1O onto therod structure below, the small stuff na e-1 P sti th cu ll. mos at t outset, and before travelling ery far. The whole hulls, V .stick:tights? Iand excessively large nuts, unable to pass through said openings,wi1ltravel along the screen sheets-and fi nal lypasslo ito the rods16+l7Ihese are spaced sufficiently apaitto enable the hulls to drop therehetween and onto the Clint e120, but do not allow the stick tiglitsexcessively largelnutstoipas's, and these arev finally deposited ontothe 'chute 19, from which the largen ut s may be remoi ed andthesticktights subjected to, a further hulling treatment if desired, H

At this po int it is well to' call. attention to the fact that owing tothe rods being alternately horizontally staggered oion differ'ent'levels, a baffling effect is produced, cansingth e hullsto roll oyer,and between therods instead of sliding along over the ame, ime rea y fai in the e n n and separ ati'ng action. I wiilbe iioted that althoughthe spacebetween the rods 1'6an'd 1] is less in width than that of theopenings'IO, this space extends for the full length of the rods. It willalso be remarked that althoughwholehulls are A try shaped and as a' unitarewider than the holes 10, each half hull in itself is thinner than thespaiie loetw'een'the rods, This allowsthe ends of theic onnected halfhulls to drop between the ifods, whose staggered arrangement, as abovestated, then causes said hulls to rollarounkl and under'the upper,rodslGfand they can then drop into the chute20. N

The shape of the opening betw'eenthe rods, allows the whole hi t split01" opened hiills to" pass therebetw'een, since each section of the hullis relatively thinmlht "the same tim 'e' t'h'e" 11 1uehth ic ken andunbroken -sti'c ktights', etc, [are retained; and the j k or jumpingreciprocating or shaking move ment of the entire structure causes thenuts to travel along the entire length of the structure.

Coming bacl; to the starting point on the lower rod structure, thiscarries at first everything but the unbroken hulls, sticktights andoversized nuts.

The chaff and other small pieces of no value included in this mass willat once drop between the closely spaced rods into the chute 27. Theserods however cannot pass the actual nuts or meats of any size and thesethen travel along the closely spaced section to the end thereof, whichis the beginning of the'widely spaced rod section, at which point thevery small nuts, and any meats, drop through and onto the chute 28.Since the proportion of such small nuts and meats to the total bulkbeing handled is always very small, it is not necessary that the chute28 be very large or have any very great capacity. The whole and normalsized nuts cannot however pass between even the widely spaced rodsect-ion, and they therefore travel along the same to be finallydeposited in the chute 29, separated from everything else, as isdesirable.

In the meantime, the half-hulls on the rods have all droppedtherebetween and into the chute 27.

By altering the level between any set of staggered rods, the spacebetween adjacent rods on the different levels is of course altered, thusmaking this structure suitable for any kind or size of nuts beinghandled.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that I haveproduced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of theinvention as set forth herein.

WVhile this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferredconstruction of the device, still in practice such deviations from suchdetail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit ofthe invention, as defined by the appended claims:

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and useful anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An almond screening structure including a pair of upper screens, themesh of one being narrower than that of the other, a pair of lowerscreens of different sized mesh from each other, the narrower meshscreen of the latter being under the wider mesh screen of the upperscreens, and means preventing the dropping of any matter from the uppernarrow-mesh screen onto .the screen below.

2. An almond screening structure including a pair of upper screens, themesh of one being narrower than that of the other, a pair of lowerscreens of different sized mesh from each other, the narrower meshscreen of the latter being under the wider mesh screen ofthe upperscreens, a chute at the of the latter being under the wider mesh screenof the upper screens, means preventing the dropping of any matter fromthe upper narrow-mesh screen onto the screen below, a transverse chuteunder the lower screens at the junction of the same, and a longitudinalchute under both said lower screens.

4. An almond screening structure including a pair of upper screens, themesh of one being narrower than that of the other, a pair of lowerscreens of different sized mesh from each other, the narrower meshscreen of the latter being under the wider mesh screen of the upperscreens, and means for independently adjusting the size of mesh of thevarious screens.

5. An almond screening apparatus comprising upper and lower screenstructures, means for causing matter on the screens to travel from theforward to the rear end thereof; the forward portion of the upper screenstructure to enable only the hulled nuts and anything smaller to passtherethrough, and the rear portion of said upper structure retainingonly the unthreshed nuts; the lower screen structure having a mesh toretain only whole'nuts, a chute to receive certain of the matter passingthrough the lower screening structure, a transverse chute under saidstructure at a predetermined point intermediate its ends to receive anymeats passing through said structure, and another chute at the rear endof said lower structure to receive the whole nuts remaining thereon.

6. In an almond screening apparatus, a screening structure comprising arow of horizontally spaced rods, an additional row of similarly arrangedrods positioned intermediate the rods of the first row and in a planelower than the same, and being vertically adjustable relative thereto;the spacing between any two rods in one row being greater than the widthof a rod in the other row, whereby regardless of the relative horizontalalinement of the rods of the two rows, a space in a vertical plane willbe left between adjacent rods of both rows.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

LAURENCE L. MILLER.

